Class of 1991

“Look at the cool stuff our classmates are up to! Thanks to those who have submitted notes so far this year. Please keep them coming and feel free to send me an update note at lmundt@lclark.edu at any time.” —October 25, 2017

Steven Mitchell Carpenter died July 16, 2016, after a short illness. He was 61 years old.

Steven was born April 8, 1955, in Miles City, Montana. He attended The Dalles High School in Oregon. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in French, he worked as the assistant regional director of public affairs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Portland. He then earned a JD, following which he worked in private practice, focusing on products liability and professional malpractice defense.

Steven joined the Professional Liability Fund (PLF) as a claims attorney in 2000. He spoke and wrote widely on lawyer liability issues, but will be most remembered for his compassion for lawyers facing malpractice claims. Throughout his professional career, Steven made many friends and enjoyed working with many wonderful colleagues.

A former member of the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, Steven was an avid supporter of all the arts. His passions included cooking, traveling (especially to France), and his Dobermans.

Steven is survived by his parents, Don and Juanita Carpenter; his brothers, Mike and Lynn Carpenter; nephew Kyle Carpenter, with his wife Jennifer and their son Conley; nephew Cory Carpenter, with his wife Karyn; and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as countless friends.

Sharon Chinn MA ’91 received the 2016 Otis McCreery Outstanding Service Award from the Northwest Association of Student Affairs Professionals. Chinn works at the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling as director of Educational Career, Licensing, and Accreditation Services.

Ann Flannigan BA ’91 has two sons in high school and lives in Olympia, Washington. In 2017, she appeared in theatrical productions of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County and Noel Coward’s Present Laughter. Professionally, she serves as vice president of public relations for Washington State Employees Credit Union. Flannigan also recently joined the board of directors for the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. She appreciated the opportunity to get together with other theatre department alumni at a memorial service for longtime theatre professor Edgar Reynolds in July 2017.

Jacob Hasslacher BA ’91 is the founder of LH Project, a ceramic artists’ residency based in Joseph, Oregon. The program (which gets its name from the family’s LH cattle brand), was featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s State of Wonder. Hasslacher lives on the property with his wife, sculptor Chris Antemann.

Blythe Anderson Knott BS ’91 was named director of Lewis & Clark’s Overseas and Off-Campus Programs in January 2017, after serving as acting director for the previous six months. She began her career in the office as associate director in 2013.

Yuko Kodama BA ’91 is the news director at KBCS, a listener-supported radio station in Bellevue, Washington. She has been at the station since 2008, first as producer of a syndicated regional radio program, Listen Up Northwest, then as operations director.

Was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the Washington Division I Court of Appeals, which covers King, Snohomish, Island, San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom Counties. Mann is a partner at Gendler & Mann, LLP, in Seattle. His law career spans more than two decades and he has extensive experience in environmental and land use litigation and appeals. Mann has also served on the board of directors and as president of the Washington Environmental Council, the Northwest Fund for the Environment, and the Marymoor Velodrome Association. He has been named a Washington Super Lawyer by Washington Law & Politics magazine for the past 10 years.

Was appointed by the President and Vice-President of the Navajo Nation to the new Council of Economic Advisors. The council will work with the executive branch to help develop economic activities on the reservation and will focus on developing the private sector economy. Formerly a law professor at Lewis & Clark, where he still teaches Indian law courses, Miller is a professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and a tribal judge.

09/01/2014

Was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Formerly a law professor at Lewis & Clark, Miller teaches at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

09/01/2013

Took a teaching position with the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Phoenix. He joined ASU’s Indian legal program and will concentrate on American Indian economic development issues. Previously, Miller taught for 14 years as a member of the Lewis & Clark Law School faculty.

Has left his job with the Oregon State Bar to go to China with his wife, Jane, where they are teaching students about intercultural communications, business writing, world events, Western culinary skills, and tourism. Morrill says that he and his wife are learning about China and its 5,000-year cultural history as part of the exchange.

Laura Mundt BA ’91 works at Lewis & Clark, coordinating the student Counseling Service and the Student Health Insurance Program, as well as supporting the other wellness services on campus. She has been in this role for about a year and a half. Previously, she worked as the L&C community friends coordinator, matching international students with local hosts. (If you live near Portland and would like to be a local friend to an international student, please let her know!) She finds it a pleasure to be back on campus on a daily basis and must admit she sometimes find herself in a time warp when her eyes play tricks on her, and she imagines seeing students from her era on campus. Her husband, Anthony Paolucci BA ’91, is in his 18th year at NetApp, a data storage company based in the Bay Area. Their daughter, Tomlin, is in her senior year of high school and has submitted her college applications.

Beth O’Neal BS ’91 has been organizing and implementing a reduction in the use of plastic cups in Port Townsend, Washington. She has been volunteering at events, such as the Wooden Boat Festival and Concerts on the Dock, encouraging event organizers to implement washing stations and use reusable cups and utensils. Her ongoing goal is to educate people on how they can stop using plastic and why it is important to do so, such as to protect marine life. Be on the lookout for her upcoming website about her plastic reduction crusade.

Charles Sanderson BA ’91 was named to the initial USA Touch Rugby squad to compete in the Touch World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2019. He has represented the United States in international touch rugby competition on three different occasions: South Africa in 2007, Scotland in 2011, and Australia in 2015. No U.S. player has scored more touchdowns in international competition than Sanderson.

Bryan K. Scott JD ’91 completed his term as the first African American president of the State Bar of Nevada on June 30, 2017. He will remain on the State Bar of Nevada Board of Governors through June 2018, serving as an ex officio officer. During that time, Scott will work on a special project to determine the ethnic makeup and degree of ethnic diversity of the members of the State Bar.

07/12/2016

Was sworn in as the 88th president of the State Bar of Nevada on July 30, 2016, by Nevada Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre. Scott, who is the first African American to hold the office, has served on the State Bar of Nevada’s Board of Governors since 2006. He is a past president of the Clark County Law Foundation, the Clark County Bar Association, and the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association. Scott is an assistant city attorney with the civil division for Las Vegas, where he advises the Las Vegas City Council and the Las Vegas Planning Commission on land-use, zoning, planning, and ethics issues. He has been with the Las Vegas City Attorney’s office since 1996.

09/01/2015

Was sworn in as the president-elect of the State Bar of Nevada during its recent annual meeting, held in Seattle, Washington. In July of 2016, Scott will be sworn in as the 88th president of Nevada’s state bar. He will be the first government attorney and first African American president since the State Bar of Nevada was established in 1928. For the past 19 years, Scott has worked for the Las Vegas City Attorney’s Office. He is the assistant city attorney for the civil division.

Stuart “Stu” Sugarman passed away March 28, 2016, from diabetes-related causes. He was 52 years old.

Stu was born May 16, 1963, in Jericho, New York. He attended Jericho Senior High School and earned a BS in marine science and biology from the University of Miami.

A partner at the Portland law firm Warren & Sugarman, Stu was known for his devotion to providing every defendant with a robust representation. He assisted people in their darkest moments and was known to take even the smallest cases seriously. Stu took on numerous pro bono cases, particularly on behalf of activists. He most recently defended—for free—the seven Greenpeace protesters charged in connection with a 2015 incident during which activists suspended themselves from Portland’s St. Johns Bridge in an effort to halt oil drilling in the Arctic.

Stu was respected and loved by all who knew him. He is remembered for his humor, wit, fairness, honesty, and selflessness. An avid cyclist, Stu was a frequent participator in Portland’s annual World Naked Bike Ride and Cycle Oregon. He was also a longtime volunteer at the Oregon Country Fair.

Stu is survived by his son, Riley; his mother, Pearl Sugarman; and his siblings Steven and Lori Sugarman, among other relatives.

Eric Taussig BA ’91 and his wife, Vithamon, have three children: Ben, age 8, and twins Sophie and Maddie, age 3. The family recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Lake Oswego, Oregon. Taussig has relocated his company, Prialto, to downtown Portland. Prialto supports business executives with virtual assistants. As an aside, Taussig reports that he had the pleasure of running into Carolyn Savage, wife of the late David Savage, professor emeritus of history, while helping his parents move into the Terwilliger Plaza retirement community. David and Carolyn led his overseas study program to India while he was a student at Lewis & Clark.

Jennifer Van Houten BA ’91 is a senior vice president with U.S. Bank and recently was promoted to the role of risk manager within its Wholesale Banking division. She married Greg Willmarth in August 2016 at the Mazama Lodge in Government Camp, Oregon. They met while climbing Mount Rainer in 2010 and have cotaught the Mazamas Basic Mountaineering Education Class for the last several years. They have a passion for traveling, the outdoors, and wine tasting. They recently moved into a new home by Lewis & Clark.

Abby Wool Landon JD ’91 has joined Tonkon Torp as a partner in its estate planning practice group, business department, and tax practice group. Landon, who will chair the firm’s estate planning group, has focused her practice on estates and trusts law for over 25 years. She was most recently with Williams Kastner.